Diagnosing and Slaying the Barriers to Positive Climate and Environmental Action

The Limited Behavior Dragons

Most people try to do something to limit greenhouse gasses or help the environment. But sometimes their efforts fall short or even boomerang? Here are two dragons that cause this problem:

Tokenism: The climate change behaviors that are easiest to implement tend to have the least effect on the reduction of greenhouse gasses, so some people choose less effective solutions than they could.

The rebound effect: Possibly the most ironic of the dragons of inaction, the rebound effect occurs when a positive environmental behavior is followed by one that negates it. For instance, people with fuel-efficient vehicles sometimes drive more than those without them, to the point where the net damage is greater. This is also called the Jevons Paradox or the Khazzoom-Brookes postulate.